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MacShad brings the brightest high school students to McMaster

Fifty-two outstanding high school students from across Canada will descend upon McMaster Sunday, June 30 for the international Shad Valley Program. The program allows senior high school students, who have demonstrated excellence in academics, recreation, leadership and community involvement, to expand their minds in engineering, science, technology and entrepreneurship at the university level. Established in 1982, the Shad Valley Program combines an academic and recreational portion, that takes place at a host university in July. A work term takes place in August, for about 60 per cent of its participants. McMaster has served as one of the host universities for the Shad Valley Program for the past four years. The event is organized through the central headquarters -- Shad International, located in Waterloo. This year, approximately 860 students competed for 474 spots available at eight campuses in Canada and one in England. Shad Valley's primary goal is motivational -- to give participants an appreciation of their true potential and to encourage them to strive for the highest levels of achievement. A typical day at MacShad commences at 8:30 a.m. with a university-style lecture and an intensive academic workshop followed by an afternoon of academic sessions and a recreational activity. Events feature guest speakers from the community, opportunities for artistic expression, and time to work on collaborative team business projects. The students will design, build, market, and present a product or service to a panel of judges before they leave McMaster. In October, the winning team from each campus will compete against other Shad Valley campuses at the RBC Shad Entrepreneurship Competition in Toronto. On Saturday, July 13, MacShad will host a Mini-Shad Day for local high school students. This will provide an opportunity for prospective Shads and parents to learn more about the Shad Valley program and McMaster University. The event will feature a lecture, a team-building activity, workshops and guest speakers simulating a typical day at Shad. For more information about the McMaster Shad Valley Program or to register a student for Mini-Shad Day, contact Susan Cheng, program co-manager, McMaster Shad Valley at 905-525-9140 ext. 26948 or e-mail macshad@mcmaster.ca.

June 12 Senate meeting highlights

Highlights from the June 13 McMaster Senate meeting: First-year enrolment will increase this fall University Provost Ken Norrie informed members that McMaster would be prepared . . .

Library’s William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections Division Receives AAO Award

The Archives Association of Ontario (AA0) has presented its Institutional Award for 2002 to the Library's William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections. The . . .

Brockhouse Institute on frontier of materials research

Artificial implants, filters for water systems, advanced chips for computers and semi-conductor lasers for telephone transmission. All are familiar, everyday applications of advanced materials research. McMaster's Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research (BIMR) is at the forefront of the scientific advancements that make these technologies possible. The institute recently attracted leading experts from Canada, the US and Europe for an interactive workshop that focused on the convergence of two ongoing scientific revolutions in materials research. John Preston, professor of engingeering physics, explains, "One scientific revolution currently under way is our emerging ability to manipulate, fabricate and utilize structures on the length scale of a few nanometers." These advances in nanotechnology research impact industry's ability to build smaller, smarter devices just nanometres (0.000000001 of a metre) in size. "The second revolution involves our capacity to characterize and understand biological and other 'soft' material systems with the same rigor as conventional materials," continues Preston, who describes encapsulation for improved drug delivery and implants that mimic the response of real bone as examples of biomaterials. Soft materials bend without breaking and in order for this to happen, they are typically made up of long molecules. The intent of the workshop, titled Frontiers in Characterization of Soft and Nanoscale Materials, was to share cutting-edge technologies and the latest research with participants from industry, other academic institutions and McMaster students. Participants came to the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research to explore recent advances in electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and applications of synchotron radiation, motivated by the opportunity to access leading experts in the field, including McMaster's highly regarded experts George Weatherly and Gianluigi Botton, both professors of materials science & engineering (experts in atomic and electron microscopy), as well as chemistry professor Adam Hitchcock and physicist Bruce Gaulin (experts in synchotron-based studies). One of the more unique components of the workshop involved the sessions in which 60 students and researchers benefited from hands-on demonstrations from the experts using the research facilities in the institute. A workshop participant noted that, "by seeing and doing we are learning techniques that have never been written down in the literature." The speakers represented the combined expertise of research and industry, and included respected scientists Mick Brown (Cambridge), Richard Spontak (North Carolina State), Peter Grutter (McGill), and from industry, Sergei Magonov (Digital Instruments) and DeTong Jian (Canadian Light Source). The Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research is an interdisciplinary research organization, the largest facility of its kind in Canada, recognized as a leader in materials characterization. The institute is one of two such research facilities in North America - -the other is the Cornell Centre for Materials Research located at Cornell University. The facilities of the institute and its pool of expertise are also available to industry and organizations that require assistance with materials research and development or material analysis. Its membership of 60 faculty members is drawn from eight departments in the Faculties of Science, Engineering and Health Sciences. Photo:Lisa Croll, a McMaster chemistry student, discusses the finer points of atomic force microscopy with Tom Malis of National Resources Canada. End of story

Health sciences librarian wins award for outstanding achievment

Tom Flemming, head of public services in the McMaster Health Sciences Library, won the Canadian Health Libraries Association's (CHLA) Award of Outstanding Achievement. Announced at CHLA's recent annual conference, the award recognizes significant contributions to the field of health sciences librarianship in Canada. The contribution must be more than passing importance, interest or local advancement. The award was presented on Flemming's recent contributions to the health care community. During the past year, he has been recognized for his Web site "Health Care Information Resources ... for patients, their families, friends, and health care workers". The recognition has included at least two citations on the Medical Webmasters Listserv; one for his excellent disclaimer, considered one of the best ever written, and the second for his excellent listing of complementary and alternative medicine information resources.

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MacShad brings the brightest high school students to McMaster

June 12 Senate meeting highlights

Library’s William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections Division Receives AAO Award

Brockhouse Institute on frontier of materials research

Health sciences librarian wins award for outstanding achievment

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